Salt, a Swiss operator, owned by Free’s founder, has just launched fixed Internet access with an asymmetrical speed never seen before, coupled with an audiovisual offer via Apple TV, another first.
Xavier Niel launches in Switzerland a box with an asymmetrical data rate of 10 Gbit/s
That is a world first. The Swiss operator Salt, acquired by Xavier Niel in 2015, has just launched a network box offering subscribers a theoretical download speed of 10 Gbit/s. That, according to the company, should enable a 5GB file to be downloaded in just six seconds.
Another great originality and to our knowledge another first: the offer does not include a box TV house, but an Apple TV 4K 32 Go. Seeing an operator leaning against Apple in this way is new and could inspire other ISPs. The Apple TV 4K is included in the subscription and gives access, via the Salt TV application, to several hundred television channels, including several in Ultra HD. The French version is based on the Canal Plus myCanal application, and on the local Molotov Zattoo with the technical assistance of Hollystar. Another app, Salt Video, provides access to the operator’s VoD service. It too was designed with the help of Hollystar and is based on Sky’s catalog.
All from 39.95 Swiss francs per month for those who are already mobile subscribers, or about 34 euros. A modest price against a much more expensive competition.
Symmetrical bandwidth and doped Wi-Fi
But what holds our attention the most is the rising peak rate, which is symmetrical and therefore also reaches 10 Gbit/s. For comparison, the various operators in France offer a download rate ten times less efficient, up to 1 Gbit/s. And no symmetry since the upload usually peaks at 200 Mbit/s.
Concerning Wi-Fi, the Swiss operator also promises an astronomical data rate of 2.2 Gbit/s thanks to 4X4 MIMO on a double frequency band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.
Such speeds can be explained by the particularities of the optical fiber network. Salt was until now a mobile telephone operator. Thanks to a partnership with Swiss Fiber Network (SFN), it is soon launching itself on fixed-line with this explosive offer. SFN does not market its services directly to the general public but businesses and therefore rents its infrastructure in Salt.
A new standard in optical fiber
SFN has deployed a new optical fiber standard: XGS-PON, which is the acronym for Gigabit Passive Optical Network, with X corresponding to 10 for 10 Gbit/s. It should also be noted that only about thirty cities are concerned by Salt’s offer. That has nothing to do with the French case where urban centers are scattered over a much more extensive territory, with a higher population density and more subscribers to serve. Finally, very few terminals are compatible with 10 Gbit/s, most of them are even quite expensive and reserved for companies. This speed will therefore not be fully exploitable by a regular user.
With the NG-PON2 standard, which also allows boosting throughput. So, the XGS-PON is being deployed all over the world. But is only used on an experimental basis by French operators for the moment. SFR had already entrusted us last year to work on a 10 Gbit/s link with NG-PON2. But without specifying when its subscribers could benefit from it. However, the operator just announced yesterday at a press conference. That it had reached 10 Gbit/s in February in its Velizy laboratory.
So 10 Gbit/s is also on track in France. But we will probably have to wait a little longer to get access to it. Unless Xavier Niel reserves us a little surprise during the year on the occasion of the launch of the next Freebox.
In conclusion, hats off to Salt who succeeds in offering an ultra-fast fiber box by not owning a fixed network. And who is not tired of developing a TV box. And who provides a multimedia catalog based solely on external streaming services. Clever!